Scandanavian Turnshoes - a quickie

I backed the kickstarter for Jason Hovatter's instructional DVD to make scandanavian turnshoes.  (DVD is also available on Amazon.)

It was a quick project, and he says it all so much better, but here's a couple of pictures of the shoes I made following the instructions on the DVD:

Pretty comfortable, but I should add another layer of the goop sole for more cushioning.  The DVD is great - really easy to follow all the steps, and these went pretty quick.

Shoe School! Laughing Crowe and Internal Stitchdown

Finally - another shoe post!

In late April, I made it to Portland to study with Jason Hovatter at Laughing Crowe.  Jason does a variety of non-lasted shoe techniques, and is a real innovator and super nice guy.  I met him at the footwear makers' symposium last June, and was very excited to take his class.  Lucky me, nobody else signed up for that session, so I got a *private* class!

This is his own construction method, that he invented. Sort of like a stitchdown, it turns the upper to the inside, instead of the outside.  Here's what we did in class....

Casting the foot in duct tape, and drawing the design:

Making patterns: 

Cutting the insole and making channels for the stitching, and punching the stitchig holes themselves

: 

Cutting, skiving, punching and sewing the uppers; adding reinforcement where needed:

Stitching the uppers to the insole:

At this point, the shoes were soaked in water and given some vigorous shaping, and put in a dehydrator to dry back out.  Then, I added a layer of foam, for cushion, and a purchased sole.  Those were then trimmed, and laces added.

These are pretty comfortable.  I think there's still room for tinkering, to get the super comfy walking shoe I'm looking for in the long run.  But these are a huge step in that direction!

Tolkien-Inspired Briefcase

Kevin's Christmas present, given to him in early summer (oops!) was a new briefcase for work.  The nice one he got after law school was stolen out of his car several years ago, and Tandy had this kit on sale just before the holidays.

Being the giant Tolkien nerds that we are, and given my map fetish, I wanted to cover it with maps of Middle Earth.  Here's how I did that. 

First, draw out the designs you want on paper, actual size (and shape):

Then, case (use a sponge to dampen) the leather.  Lay the paper design on top, and trace (hard) with a stylus.  In this case, yeah - that's a *lot* of tracing.

I really struggled with the dye.  I wanted the design to pop out much more than it did.  As it is, you have to get close to see that it's covered with maps.  I'm still looking for a better solution to this problem. 

Then, it was just a question of following the instructions that came with the kit.  Sewing it all together, adding the provided hardware...  Not having to design it from the ground up was a luxury, but one I would only take advantage of if the price was right.  In this case, it was - the sale price was about half the standard retail price. 

Either way, Kevin loves his new briefcase, and has been using it for work all summer.

Christmas is over, so now I can show you the things I made....

The long hiatus on the blog was the direct result of many projects that were gifts for people.  Also, I'm sometimes lazy about writing stuff up.

First up, I made five leather belts for friends and family.  FIVE. 

Rather than go through the whole song and dance on each one, here's a few in-progress photos and finished shots of each.  Here's the basic supplies for each belt:  A belt blank, buckle, and keeper (about $30).  Also pictured, the letter stamps for the crossword puzzle belt.



Star Wars!  A collection of basically every Star Wars graphic or logo I could find, rendered the same way as the Dwarvish belt I made back in August.  Dyed plain black.

For the crossword puzzle fan  - I actually bought a set of letter stamps, to make this one easier.  The parts of crossword puzzles came from the solution section of a "Variety Puzzles" magazine - I just left out about half the letters, and kind of meshed together a bunch of different puzzles:

 

The Superman belt was done in exactly the same way as the others, but rather than dying it black, I used leather paints - and then wiped over it with a black gel to make it pop a little more.

For the car fanatic, I chose a tire tread design.  I didn't have modeling tools yet, so this was all done with a flat-head screwdriver.  Seriously, you *can* do leather stuff with very minimal tools, and have it come out looking good.

 After deciding that it kind of sucked to use a screwdriver, I started looking at modelling tools.  And right about then, they were listed as a doorbuster at Tandy.  Here's the Washington Redskins' feather from their logo.  It was kind of complicated, so I made four separate templates to trace around.

 

Lest you think that leather belts are the *only* thing I made this year, there were also a few fun hair toys for the girls:

These are fairly fast and easy - it's just a big alligator clip, some silk flowers, feathers, crystals or beads, and hot glue.  (Very hot glue.  Ouch!) 

My mom only wanted some cushions re-upholstered, so that happened.  Also made some nice note cards for my grandmother. 

And in the race to the holidays, there were two full sets of "Jedi robes" for the nephews.  Brown robe, cream dickey, tunic, and obi/belt for each of them.  I finished these at 3pm the day before we left to do Christmas with the in-laws.  I think that's a record for me - having the whole evening free to pack!

There's just one gift left to finish - Kevin's getting a new briefcase, and it's not done yet.  Pics just as soon as it's finished!

For New Year's, we had a Star Wars themed party, at which these were on the dessert platter:

Because Han Solo in Peppermint Bark is much tastier than Han Solo in Carbonite....

There's a few projects piling up for the start of the new year already, too.  I've got a pair of purple shoes to re-make, and some green (squid) sandals for a friend.  I'm finishing up a blouse for myself.  And I need to make a seven-foot-tall "stone" cat sculpture for Norwescon.  Stay tuned for that one!  Additionally, I'll be prepping for my Norwescon panels, which I anticipate to be a lot of fun, but also a lot of stress and work. 

Here's wishing you all a very creative and productive 2016.